A computer system includes many components, such as the central processing unit (or processor); temporary memory for storing program instructions (like random access memory, or RAM); a permanent storage device (such as a hard disk); and a variety of user interface devices, such as a video display, a keyboard, and a pointing device.
The keyboard may come in a variety of physical embodiments. The most familiar is a plastic enclosure made of two halves that are fixed together with at least one cutout in the top half for a keypad. The standard keyboard has an alphanumeric keypad with a number keypad to the right. The keypads have keys that correspond to pressure sensitive switches. The pressure sensitive switches are mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) underneath the keypads and within the enclosure. The PCB also has a keyboard control circuit that, when a key is pressed, determines which key was pressed and transmits an electrical signal to the computer system. The computer system then decodes the electrical signal and performs some defined action such as printing a character on the video display or executing a defined command. Other embodiments of a keyboard include different alphanumeric keypad layouts, reduced size keypads and keyboards, metal enclosures, cutouts for each individual key, integration of a pointing device, etc.
Because of the general acceptance and use of computers for countless operations, they appear in use for an increasing number of different work and entertainment environments. This includes harsh environments that may include dampness, wetness, damaging gases, heavy particulate matter, dangerous contaminants, or medical hazards. Within these environments, such user keyboards may be or become inoperative because of the environmental constituents entering their mechanical, electrical, and electronic portions or become unsafe because of contaminants collecting on their surface or within their many gaps and crevices.
In the past, computers and peripherals have been restricted to use in carefully controlled environments. As discussed, conventional computer terminal keyboards have a housing with many discrete, closely-spaced alpha-numeric keys protruding upward through openings in the top of the keyboard. In many environments, spills and dirt can easily enter the keyboard and soon disable it. Keyboards are known with internally sealed electronics to provide protection against liquid spills, but debris can still enter spaces within the keys and foul their operation.
Today, some computer keyboards and peripherals are designed to operate in environments replete with a broad array of contaminants that would make use of less well-designed keyboards or peripherals either highly impractical or wholly impossible. For example, certain keyboards exist that are designed for the specific needs of healthcare environments and infection control. Such keyboards are seemingly ideally suited for use in operating rooms, patient rooms, with medical carts or retractable workstations because these keyboards provide a reliable waterproof keyboard that can be wiped down using hospital disinfecting sprays or germicidal wipes. However, even these specialty keyboards still have unnecessary edges, gaps, crevices, textures, and seams that provide places for contaminants to accumulate and make sanitizing difficult or impossible.
The “feet” of current keyboards including specialty keyboards are a good example. When the user wants the keyboard to lay flat against the table, the feet reside in recesses in the base of the keyboard. When the user wants the keyboard to be raised up off the table, the feet generally pivot out from the bottom enclosure. Both the recess and the feet themselves supply places for contaminants to collect and are difficult to clean because of their many nooks and crannies. Another example is the texturing on many keyboard surfaces. The texturing provides thousands of small crevices for contaminants to build up and makes sanitizing significantly more difficult.
In addition, the key's themselves have inherent sanitization problems. Because the keys are the most prominent and used component of the keyboard, they are more prone to contact with contaminants. The key's cube shape also unnecessarily increases the number of surfaces to be cleaned. These additional surfaces increase the probability that each key will not be properly sanitized and unnecessarily increase the complexity of, and time necessary to, properly sanitize the keyboard.
While computer device designers have attempted to produce a rugged keyboard for harsh environments that is easy to sanitize, none has yet overcome the problems of providing a waterproof sealed keyboard with minimal seams, crevices, and gaps to lower the accumulation of contaminants and make sanitization simpler and more effective.
Accordingly, there is a need for a rugged sealed keyboard with a low-key height and smooth surface with minimal seams, crevices, and gaps to lower the accumulation of contaminants and make sanitization simpler and more effective.